Dark Crusader
by Hiro Sabreheim
Summary: An AU Highschool DxD fic I've been working on. Just like my Senran Kagura fic; I try to stay as close as I reasonably can to the source material. I've just added an OC for the sake of my own style; but don't let that put you off. Sometimes things need to change to be better.


"F-Father...you're...here..." A ragged cough issued from a fallen warrior as the sun began to set over the nearby trees, their shadows quietly reaching across the field of war. The combatants having fought their last skirmish for the day and retreating back to military camps on either side of the field. All except two figures, one of which was struggling to sit up as a tall figure with long hair was running toward them.

A flash of light beamed issued forth from a discarded sword that spun through the air and stabbed deeply into the ground and a commander's cloak being pulled from around the figure's shoulders as he reached the person. "Hang in there..." the man said, kneeling and gently helping the gravely wounded youth to a sitting position, about to help him to his feet.

"No father..." the youth said, after a ragged fit of coughing, spurting blood and struggling to breathe as his hand was pressed into a gaping wound in his chest. "I'm...I'm not...going to ..." he started to say, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

"Not going to die here.." the man said, determinedly; but even he could see the severity of the wound.

"I'm...scared..." The young man said again after a fit of coughing, his breathing coming harder. "Why... why did this have to happen...?" he questioned.

With large tears forming in his eyes, the man pulled his fading son in closer trying to offer what comfort her could; he had no answer to the question. "Don't be afraid... I'm right here with you..."

"Father...I..." the young man began to cough harder and harder as the shadows of the tree lengthened; steadily enshrounding the field in the embrace of night. "I'm...sorry..." The youth said, his breathing coming in very shallow now and his voice growing quieter. "I ...I don't want to... I don't want to ...go..." He started sounding like he was praying. "Please god...don't... make me go..." The youth's eyes began to grow darker as he tried weakly to hook his arm around his father's shoulders.

Then the words no parent ever wants to be present to hear. "Goodbye...papa..." the youth said quietly and slumped forward and fell heavily against his father's chest.

Pulling his departed child against him; the man tried to keep his tears from flowing, shuddering with suppressed sobs of grief the man held his child close for a bit longer before gently letting him rest upon the earth. Then he let out a great scream of pure anguish as the immense sorrow welled up, swirling inside and becoming a torrent that steadily changed into something ...darker. An immense anger filling the tumult as the screams of anguish became a rage-filled tirade, thrown into the sky- coming out in such hideous vitriol against the entity called god that troops nearby went pale regardless of their beliefs.

Weapons clutched tightly as the onlookers turned to focus on the source of it. The once serene embrace of the coming night began to change into an inky void that had nothing to do with the setting of the sun. With a mighty roar of absolute grief and rage; large glossy black wings tore their way out of the man's back as he bent over his child. The only warning the warriors and soldiers had was the glowing icy blue orbs before they too vanished.

The next morning, the entire battlefield; both Colonial and British forces would be devastated. Bodies and scorched areas were everywhere; the battlefield where two massive forces were warring became a massive charnel house. The crows and scavengers would have food for weeks if they could reach it; for many bodies remained intact- every last soldier from both sides had been impaled upon broken off trees and anything that could be used for the purpose.

Only the body of the young man that had died in his father's arms had escaped; after that point whomever the man had been disappeared from the mists of history. Few accounts remained but in every major war since 1095 there had been one exemplary commander; with a nearly perfect record of victories. After a major battle of the American Revolution; the records stop. Nobody knew who he was; as his name was never recorded and only a few old paintings remained- none of them showing the man's face; only his profile.

More than two centuries later...

Archeologists from a major university in Paris would unearth what looked like a previously undiscovered tomb after an area had been washed out by a seasonal flood of Seine river. They'd excitedly excavated it, after having found the remnants of a few ancient buildings in the same general area; thinking it was related to that period of time. The tomb had been carved or built into a hillside with the entrance blocked by a heavy stone slab that looked like it would've needed something like an elephant to pull open. The students had managed to get it open with heavy machinery and were confused by the age of it; the tomb wasn't truly ancient! It was perhaps only about 200 years old; but why? There weren't any others from that time period in that particular area.

While the human students didn't understand what they'd released; anything with supernatural powers or sensitivities sure as hell knew. Due the concentration of power inside that tomb; when the seal was broken a very powerful shockwave of energy rippled across the world- alerting and even alarming angels and devils alike. The humans that opened the tomb were expected grave goods perhaps coinage, relics or maybe even bones to study.

What they found was highly unexpected. At the base of a long flight of stone stairs was a singular room with a large stone coffin in it and an extremely realistic statue of a knight in knight's templar styled armor standing protectively before the coffin. There were no treasures in there; just this oddly realistic statue and the stone coffin it protected, but on the walls were various incriptions scribed in a language none of the students could make any sense out of.

Disappointed by the lack of treasure; but intrigued by the inscriptions and the chance to examine the entombed body; the students would depart since the light from outside was getting low and they'd not brought anything themselves. When they returned the next day to try and begin their work of transcribing the carvings and examining the body in the coffin; they'd find the tomb's outer face had seemingly collapsed in on itself. Thinking it was just a bit of a landslip and they could get it open again; the students called in a small crew to clear the debris only to find that the stonework had been brought down as well.

Just as they were keen to depart in utter disappointment; some keen-eyed student spotted them; clear as day in the mud. Footprints, but none of them had approached or exited the tomb from that direction. More over they'd find a stone with a seemingly fresh inscription upon it like it'd been laid out fo them to see. In very classic French it read:

"If thy life hath value; depart this place and never return, lest thou wish thy doom." The only other mark was a carved symbol of a downward pointing sword with dragon wings furled around it from behind.

Half a world away; three years later.

A young man, seeming about in his early-thirties walked briskly up toward the main building of one Kuoh Academy. He breezed past the students that were milling about; catching the attention of quite a few of the young ladies that would stare after him for a moment before returning ot their gossip. Many of them thought him handsome; standing a good 5'11" with long black air with thin red highlights that was neatly groomed and pulled into a ponytail that fluttered about as he walked. The light of the sun over heard illuminating his clothing as he walked; wearing a vivid royal blue, elegant-seeming tailed jacket that seemed oddly out of time almost but was well complimented by the deep purple button-down shirt. His legs clad in black suitpants that were cuffed by the boots he wore; secured in place with silvered buckles and had a matching toe-cover.

He carried only a briefcase, held at his side as he walked; if it wasn't for his outfit and height advantage over most of the student body; one would think he was one of them.

The dark shades he wore gave him an air of mystery as he walked past them, giving polite nods of acknowledgement whenever a student greeted him. He was new to the school and had only been there for perhaps a month; but was already quite popular amongst the students and even some of the female faculty. It was still early in the day and classes had yet to start; so he made his way to the faculty office to prepare.

Inside the office; he'd find his work-station and settled into a chair to begin reviewing some of the papers he had in his case when he was greeted by one of the female faculty members that was faintly red in the cheeks. "Good morning Mr. Serrano..." she said almost hesitantly. "How're you this morning? Looking forward to putting up with your class of troublemakers?" She asked, trying to clear her anxiety by pulling a bit levity into it.

He glanced at her from behind his dark shades and smiled faintly as he turned in his chair. "They aren't all that bad Ms. Hino" He replied. "They're kids, they're supposed to be trouble at their age." He chuckled.

"Sure they are." She shook her head, making her short black hair swish a bit. "Especially that perv and his friends. They always give me trouble because they never seem to know when to pay attention."

"You mean you don't like the fact that they're leering at you while you're talking and imagining you in the nude." Serrano needled her a little; knowing Ms. Hino was a bit of a prude.

She went beet red and gave a "why I never..." expression and turned to flee; muttering something under her breath.

It wasn't much longer before they all had to filter out to attend to their assorted classes. With "Mr. Serrano" reporting to class 2-b to deal with being the new history and homeroom teacher for the class. He'd introduced himself to the class as that and had been pelted with questions about himself; given his name was very obviously foreign. He'd managed to grab control of the class by presenting history in more interesting ways; like he was telling them gripping stories instead of boring lectures.

As a result of his teaching style and well-groomed appearance; he was very much liked by most of the students; except for a handful of the boys that felt he was competition for the ladies. It was rather strange though; he'd also displayed an iron grip on keeping discipline in the classroom, much like a military commander or drill sergeant. An example of such would be when he caught a student sleeping in class; he'd walk over and smack the meter-stick provided for other classes down upon the desk to wake the person up. If they did it again; they'd find themselves having to do push-ups in front of the class until he was told to stop or class was over- whichever came first.

However, that same day; after classes were over, Serrano would notice two students surrounding a third in a desk at the back of the class. A quick perusal of the seating chart; he'd learn who they were: Hyoudou Issei and his two apparent friends Matsuda and Motohama. Issei seemed to be a bit on the spaced-out side as they were talking. Serrano-sensei had been getting a familiar vibe from that boy all day and knew full well what it was; he knew intuitively that Mr. Hyoudou there wasn't human anymore. The young-seeming instructor knew the boys and Issei was different than how he'd been in the past; he had all the markers of a recently reincarnated devil. The difficulty of operating in the mornings, the lethargy that carried throughout the day and other things.

All that was minor compared to what he heard the shaved-headed student saying and holding up.

"How was that porn DVD I lent ya the other day?!" Matsuday asked loudly, making almost everyone pause and turn to stare.

Now, Jean hadn't been in the modern era for long but he'd learned enough to grasp what they were talking about. So he sighed and got up from his desk and quietly made his way over to them as Matsuda reached into his pack and produced a DVD case, obviously more porn. Without so much as a word, Jean plucked it out of Matsuda's hand and sighed looking at them from behind his shades.

"You know this sort of thing isn't allowed on school grounds." He said quietly and looked them over; holding it out of Matsuda's grasp.

"Hey! Give that back." the student spun about quickly thinking it was another student that took it. When he saw it was their teacher, he went slightly palefaced at that.

"Ordinarily I'd just give you detention and that'd be the end of it. But I've heard complaints from the other students about how you three have been." Jean said calmly, pulling the DVD out of it's case and spinning it slowly on his index finger. "So I'm going to give you an incentive to knock it off..." and with that he grasped the edge of the disc with his thumb and in one motion cleanly broke the disc in half then let it drop to the floor.

"If I catch you with something like that again..." he started. "It will be _you_ I break."

Matsuda was furious at having his property destroyed like that but the implied punishment for the next time he did such a thing left him ashen as he numbly bent down to collect the pieces of the broken disc. Normally a teacher may be called to account for something like that to the other teachers, headmaster or whatnot; but since he was still new there; they'd give him a pass that first time.

The sensei had made his impression on the students at that point, and they were all looking at him with a mix of respect and a bit of fear. Of course, a few of the girls seemed pleased with that to a degree hoping it would cause those three perverts to stop being so...creepy in class.

Later that night, after everyone had gone home for the night and Jean was out for an evening walk; he'd spot Issei seemingly wandering aimlessly. It also confirmed his suspicions of what Issei was; most people wouldn't just go wandering out at night alone. Or perhaps in this modern age they did without fear of being attacked by someone else? Either way; Jean's curiosity was piqued and decided to follow Issei for a bit to see what was going on. He kept his distance to avoid being noticed and continued to shadow his student.

When they got to a park with a bubbling fountain in the center; Issei seemed to be remembering something by the way he behaved. Just as Jean was about to make his presence known and casually approach to see what was going on, he sensed a barrier going up around them. It was like barriers he'd been exposed to in the past and was very familiar with it; a fallen angel.

It seemed that the fallen one was there after Issei and put the boy to running in an attempt to flee. Jean wouldn't allow that and quickly took off after them, in his motion; blending in with the inky shadows of the night. The fallen angel seemed to be after Issei because of the belief that Issei was a stray devil and that the fallen one could get away with exterminating him. However, just as Dohnaseek formed his spear of light and threw it at the fleeing Issei; Jean moved between them like a shadow materialized there; grabbing the light spear with his right hand.

"Well well, if it isn't a fallen angel." Jean said in a cold voice and clenched his hand; shattering the spear into shards that quickly dissipated. "Out for some easy sport are you?"

"Who are you?!" Dohnaseek demanded, forming another spear of light in his hand and readied to throw it it again. It was disconcerting and a bit odd to be looking at someone whom was wearing shades, at night.

Issei didn't hear it at first as he continued to flee; but paused when he didn't get hit by anything and wasn't being pursued. "What?" He turned to see the shadowed figured between them as he shattered the light spear.

"Who I am is none of your concern." Jean said, tilting his shades down and glanced at Dohnaseek over the rim. His eyes were glowing an icy blue color which stood out against the black of the sclera. "I suggest you leave before either I decide to make you...or that boy's master arrives."

"Tch." Dohnaseek let out and took to the air and tried to catch up with Issei; whom he spotted easily once he got some altitude. "You're just another stray. I've got business with the boy first." Before this new arrival could interfere, he hurled the second light spear at Issei whom was just about to try and flee again.

Just as he was about to release it, Jean appeared in front of him again; just floating in the air like it was nothing at all. His own wings concealed by the darkness of the night but the drafts coming from the were audible. He thrust out a hand and made a gripping motion; sudden Dohnaseek's light spear dissolved and he was grasping at his chest and breathing in a very panicked manner.

The fallen angel felt like someone was grabbing him by the heart! And they were squeezing faintly, a firm but deadly grip. It made his breathing come in short gasps as the terror of the feeling settled in. "Wha?" his eyes wide.

Jean had done away with his shades for the moment and was turned profile to Dohnaseek with his arm outstretched like he was grasping something. He'd glance over his shoulder with just his left eye visible and that intense icy glow; it was terrifying. "I'm only going to say this once. Leave the boy alone."

"N-No, How're you..." Dohnaseek choked out then let out a pained groan as he felt the pressure around his heart tighten.

"One. Last. Chance. Are you going to leave the boy alone?"

"Yes! Yes! Just let me go!" Dohnaseek pleaded, not able to focus for fear of whatever had his heart would just crush it.

Just as Jean released Dohnaseek and caused the fallen angel to flee; Rias Gremory would make her appearance with her two companions Akeno Himejima and Koneko Tojoh. Issei was confused by all of what was going on but was very relieved to see the girls arrive and was trying to explain to them what going on and trying to get answers.

Jean would land and reabsorb his wings into his body and put his shades back on. Rias just gave Issei a faint smile that he was alright and looked up to see the figure of Jean give her a knightly bow before just vanishing into the darkness.

The next day after all the activity of the school day faded, Mr. Serrano would tune his sense in to find the location of the more powerful devils on campus. He quickly pinged on the locations of Sona and Tsubaki; the two heads of the Citri family as well as Rias and Akeno of Gremory. Ages ago; Jean had been an ally to the Gremory family on more than one occasion and had received word from Lucifer himself requesting that he keep an eye on Rias; which was how he found himself at Kuoh Academy. Perhaps now was the time to formally introduce himself to her and her companions.

He knew that after the previous night, that they'd probably try to figure out who he was once they dealt with the fallout with Issei. He could ping their locations but trying to get a lock on them was irritated by the fact that so many signals were causing his "rusty" senses to become scrambled.

"Inari. Come to me." Jean said quietly, and a sigil formed on the floor next to him and a young woman seeming about the same age as any of the students materialized through the rune.

"Yes master?" The young woman asked in a calm tone of voice.

"I need you to find a couple of devils for me." He said, ruffling her hair. "Find the heir to the house of Gremory. I know she's on this campus somewhere."

"Of course." She said and blurred her form into that of a fox with 5 tails and then became invisible and presumably took off.

It wouldn't take the accomplished kitsune to find the location of the young lady her master desired to meet and would report back that she was in what people called the "old school building." To avoid any confusion about the new girl appearing randomly in the academy, Inari would dismiss herself at that. Jean would head off to the location he was informed about and entered the building.

"Interesting" he said quietly as he glanced about and heard talking coming from one of the upper floors, it was coming through the floorboards of the meeting room. He'd head up there quietly and waited outside of the room until they were finished with what they were discussing and politely knocked...

Meanwhile, during the time Serrano was seeking them out; the Occult Research club was gathered for their normal after-school meeting. Issei had been brought there by Kiba earlier in the day; and was currently confused by what was going on. He was babbling incoherently for a few moments as his mind ran faster than his mouth could keep pace; spouting out all sorts of freaked out and confused mutterings. That was until Rias had had enough and rapped noisily on her desk to get his attention.

"Issei. Calm down." Rias said afterward. "I know this is all confusing for you but please understand that you're among friends; it's ok. We're all devils here." She smiled, with a light "fwomp" her wings unfurled from her back, as did everyone else's.

Issei was sputtering for a bit then tipped forward as his own wings unfurled as well. "Whoa. Dude..." he muttered as he noticed. "I'm a devil now too?" He asked.

"Mmmhmm." Rias smirked at him with a nod.

With that; everyone else would formally greet their newcomer to make him feel more welcome and as they all sat down and relaxed, their wings vanished. But there was one major question lingering on everyone's mind; and for a moment none of them knew how to broach it.

With a mental flash Rias suddenly remembered. While Akeno, Koneko and herself were trying to calm the even more freaked out Issei the previous night; she'd seen the figures in the sky. Well that was to say she could see the fallen angel clutching at his chest and then in a burst of black feathers had taken off in sheer panic. Then the strange figure that landed nearby, it was that figure that none of them knew. Rias remembered catching a clear sight of the figure as they bowed to her with extraordinary grace; it was enough that the memory was enough to bring a faint blush to her cheeks.

She stood there in front of everyone for a moment as she remembered, looking spaced out as the blush began to form. Not one to be easily flattered but the manner of which she was greeted made her a mix of flustered and pleased.

"President?" Akeno chimed in, snapping Rias out of the reverie. "Did you figure something out?"

"I remember the person from last night. But I didn't get a clear view of their face." She replied.

Akeno remembered too, she'd caught the briefest of glances the previous night whe she'd followed Rias' eyes to the figure. "He disppeared before anyone could say anything, then again we were pretty distracted."

"I don't get it! Who the hell was that guy?!" Issei finally burst out, referring to the fallen angel. "Why'd he try to attack me out of nowhere like that?! And who or what saved me?!" He demanded to know; though it was more in a frustratedly confused tone.

"The one attacking you? That was a fallen angel." Rias explained as if it were nothing new. But seeing the confusion on her newest pawns' face; would give him a brief run-down of what was going on behind the scenes.

"Then who was the other one?" Issei asked, calming down now that he understood what was going on.

"We don't know." Kiba shrugged, he'd tried to find out earlier that day but there'd been nothing.

"Well. We know whoever it is isn't an enemy but why would they get involved?" Akeno said.

"Hmm..." Rias was about to say something when a knock came on the door, prompting her and everyone else to look over there. "I wonder who that could be..." she mused.

"Shall we let them in president?" Akeno asked, when Rias nodded; Kiba would move over and opened the door.

Jean stepped into the doorway from outside, this day he was dressed in a long tailed black blazer that bore deep purple trim along the edges and navy blue along the seams of the shoulders. It looked like clothing that may've been custom made for him since it fit him so well. Under it was a very dark red undershirt with long black, what looked like, khaki pants on his legs finishing with a pair of comfortable seeming black boots with silver inlay in the cuffs and buckles.

His Black and red-streaked hair left loose but obviously well-groomed and cared for complimenting all of it; including the odd shades he still wore. "So this is where you all run off to when classes are out." He grinned faintly.

Issei jolted a bit as his homeroom teacher stepped in. "Mr Serrano?! Why're you here?" he asked. "And Who the hell wears shades indoors?!"

The others just looked on questioningly; Issei had already asked what was on their minds.

"I wanted to see if you were alright after last night." He replied calmly.

"So then you were...!" Issei took a step back in surprise, thinking that he'd just answered everyone's question about the figure last night.

"I just saw you out by that fountain while I was out for a late-night walk and you looked kind of depressed and today- you looked all drained of energy." Jean said, neatly sidestepping the question. "As your teacher, I'm concerned that something's wrong."

"You didn't have to follow me here afterschool there teach..." Issei cut his glance off to the side in his exasperation. "If you're really worried. I'm ok; I've just been having some ... trouble sleeping at night." He glibly lied.

"Oh I imagine you do. It's not everyday you get turned into a devil then attacked by a fallen angel." Jean suddenly began to smirk.

"!" Issei snapped around to stare in amazement at hearing that.

"I see.." Rias said quietly as she just watched the scene unfold; having already figured it out. Before Issei could reply and possibly ask something stupid; she cut into the conversation. "Let me ask something, who are you?"

Jean brushed out the tails of his coat and sank to one knee in the manner of a knight. "My name is Jean Serrano, and I...like all of you... am a devil." He said clearly, before standing back up. "Well..." He said letting his wings come out with a slow growth from the back of his shoulders then stretching them out and flittered the tips before pulling them back to furl. "Not entirely." Jean admitted.

Akeno and Rias both looked impressed; Koneko looked surprised, as did Kiba. Issei was simply blown away and didn't know how to respond. "You say you're a devil. Are you an evil piece?" Rias asked, she could sense something there; but didn't exactly know what.

"It's my shame to admit that I'm a mutated queen." He replied.

"A Stray..." Kiba muttered, a hand going to a sword that manifested at his hip.

"I would't boy." Jean said, peering over his shades as he tipped them down a bit.

"!" Kiba felt a wave of primal fear sweep over him, paralyzing him where he stood in sheer terror. "What...?" he asked, trying to make himself calm down.

Akeno let out a low whistle, noticing the intense flow of magic from just that little gesture.

"Why are you ashamed of that? A queen is the most powerful piece other than the king." She said, tilting her head.

"I have my reasons, it's much too boring to regale you with." Jean smiled again as he pushed his shades back up. "I just wanted to come back to formally present myself. I'm well aware of the fact that this entire city is under the Gremory Family jurisidiction." He explained.

"And you don't wish to make waves or cause a problem?" Rias began to smile a little. "Why'd you save Issei last night though?" She asked, curious now.

"I felt like it. I don't particularly like Fallen Angels that much." Jean replied. "But I must be going. Papers to grade afterall." He winked, tipping his shades a bit to wink at her and Akeno; before turning to leave with a another bow. Once he was gone; Issei managed to recover since he'd flopped back onto a couch and Kiba had to take a seat too.

Rias went over to Kiba; whom was still trembling and unable to stop it seemed. He was holding his hand in front of his face and shaking his head. "I haven't felt that in a long time..." He muttered. "I didn't know anyone could do that..."

"Kiba?" Rias asked, bending down to lay her hand on Kiba's to soothe his trembling.

"That one glance cut right through me. I was afraid; like something terrifying brushed my soul." He said. "I couldn't even think for that instant."

"Relax Kiba. It's ok." She said, offering the comfort a leader needed to offer a shaken up subordinate to get them back on track. And it'd work; after a moment; Kiba nodded with a deep breath and seemed to go back to normal. The Red-haired princess returned to her chair behind the desk and would proceed to move on with the rest of the day: Getting Issei out to pass out flyers.

Koneko and Kiba would head out as well since they had summons to attend to as well; leaving Akeno and Rias alone.

"That was very strange man." Akeno finally said once everyone else was gone. "But he's practically dripping magical power. Is that because of the mutated piece he mentioned?"

Rias was tapping her fingers on the desk, thinking about it as well. "Mutated pieces can have a variable and often very-powerful effect on those that bear them." She said. "what troubles me is that I could sense two pieces. A knight and the mutated queen."

"But aren't evil pieces unrecoverable once they've been planted inside someone?" Akeno blinked.

"Ordinarily yes. Unless the person that bore the piece was killed; the king would be able to retrieve it from them." Rias explained, still pondering.

"Wouldn't the queen piece simply force the knight piece out?" Akeno asked.

"I don't know. I've never seenit happen. I've used eight pieces for Issei but they were all pawns; I don't know anyone that's mixed two different pieces like that." Rias said puzzled by the conclusions that flew in the face of everything she knew.

"Maybe we could ask your brother...?" Akeno suggested.

"No. I'll figure this out on my own." Rias said suddenly in response, then sighed. "Well let's just leave it at that. There's no reason to stress out over it. Our good Serrano-sensei isn't a threat to us at least; we'll just leave as it is for now." she decided.

"He certainly was handsome though." The black-haired queen giggled a little, putting a finger to her lip and glanced at Rias. "He even got you to blush."

Rias blinked a bit then gave her a slightly hard look as if trying to refute it. "Not because of that!" she huffed a little. "It's just that I'm not used to having someone bow to me in that fashion."

Akeno just smiled teasingly at her for a moment longer before ceasing it; not wanting to push Rias too far. "But that name. I seem to remember something I read in a book not long ago; it described a man that had the same general look he did."

"Akeno...many people resemble each other in passing..." Rias looked at her as if she was being comedic or something.

"No it's not that. I keep remembering something but I can't put my finger on just what." She replied, seeming thoughtful. "I guess you're right. No sense in worrying about it." Akeno smiled again.

Jean thought back over the meeting and concluded that it'd gone as well as he'd wanted it to go, save for the incident with Kiba. Of course, stray devils were always a threat; and the interpretation that he was one was a logical possibility. He'd just used enough power to cause Kiba to become afraid in order to stay his hand; gauging the knight's resilience enough to make the effect last only a few seconds. He walked alone through the darkness of the night; though to his eyes it was as clear as day and the sensation of power surged through his body. Night time always made devils and those that dwell in dark places feel more powerful and confident.

With him awake, other devils and fallen angels were starting to move again; most were starting to move away. He could sense it; they were afraid of him because of what he was, mutated pieces are always unpredictable and most didn't want to be nearby. However, he kept his senses open as he returned home to plan out his next move. He'd seen the weak link in Rias' group; and that was his student Issei. Jean would resolve to keep an eye on the boy and keep him out of too much trouble. Afterall, he did seem like the type to run head long into a problem and get into trouble.

His intuition would prove correct though it was good to see that he'd unlocked the power of his sacred gear so quickly. Jean noted that once Issei set his mind on something; he was generally able to pull himself into pulling it off. Though it seemed to mostly be through trial-and-error rather than understanding and forethought. Jean had also been attending the occult research club meetings as an observer, it'd been a little strange for everyone at first but they quickly grew accustomed to it. Rias believed that it was better for him to stay there with them anyway since his alliances were unknown but she had a feeling that he was an ally.

That was how he knew about the chastisement Rias had given Issei about seeing that girl Asia, from the church. Now churches weren't a big deal for Jean; being strong enough to shield against their enivronmental effect but the priests and fallen angels (and sometimes REAL angels) that inhabited them were always an issue. Asia sort of repelled Jean as well, on a deeper level; sure he thought she was perfectly pleasant to be around from his observations (Taken at a respectable distance.) But deep inside he knew that while her power was healing; he should stay away from that. In the past; healing abilities that stemmed from anything other than another devil always had an anathema effect on him and didn't work.

One night the group would tackle a stray devil, unfortunately for Jean; he didn't have time to go with them. Being stuck with the necessary work to maintain his disguise at the school; making lesson plans and grading papers. Being Jean was a top-grade history teacher, he took it seriously and was fairly harsh when grading stuff having to do with it, lots of students that'd merely missed a point or something was deducted appropriately. Though, the ones that blatantly failed to answer essay questions correctly would simply get a failing grade for it regardless of what else they did. He wanted to get them into the habit of studying and figuring out a way to memorize important details like dates, specific events and the like.

The only student he went somewhat easy on was Issei because he understood what the boy was going through. Living a double life was always very difficult to deal with for those that weren't adjusted to it.

However it seemed like that night Issei would end up in over his head during one of the seemingly normal summonings. Jean could only sigh in exasperation at how Summoning and pacts were handled in the modern age; when he was actively gaining such pacts were almost always on the grounds of exchanging one's soul or something else of great value for demonic aid. Then again, most of the pacts Jean had forged had always been affiliated with battles and wars throughout history; making pacts with some fairly legendary figures in their own rights.

The whole business of using flyers just made him have to ask about it once Issei was sent off...on a bike; something else Jean could only shake his head at.

"Lady Rias?" He broached the topic with the president one Issei was off.

"Hmm? Yes?" Rias turned to him.

"Why are you having the boy pass out flyers of all things? Whatever happened to just letting general occult knowledge provide the means for the summonings?" Jean had to ask. It was one of those modern things he didn't really understand.

"Because not many humans now remember or even know how to perform the summoning ritual on their own." Rias replied, with a look that momentarily held just a suspension of belief. Then she remembered that he'd said that he'd been a devil for a very long time and probably hadn't done such a thing in a while. "It's just how things have changed."

"Hehe." He heard Akeno giggle from somewhere behind him.

Jean flushed a bit, knowing how ...ridiculous he must've sounded. "It could just be me but I have a bad feeling about tonight." He said. Jean was sensitive to many things, including bloodlust and while all humans had it some extent; he could pick up a large amount of it.

"It's just a normal summoning. Nothing'll happen..." Akeno said.

But Rias took any possible signs of danger to her friends seriously and would start to open up her senses to monitor Issei.

A couple hours later, a badly hurt Issei would be teleported back alongside virtually everyone else with his wounds being bandaged by Akeno after Rias performed her specialized healing. Jean had asked her to hold off for a moment while he studied Issei's wounds and shook his head. "Sword wounds. And someone that hasn't had any formal training. How gauche."

"It was an exorcist with a sword and gun of light." Kiba said when Jean mentioned sword wounds. "Issei's lucky we got there when we did."

"A gun? Since when did they start making those with the light elemental?" Jean blinked, having never heard of such a thing. He knew of guns, after all France had the Musketeers; gentlemen warriors that used both muskets and wheel-lock pistols. "I suppose it was after my time."

"That makes you sound like an old man." Akeno snickered once she finished with Issei's wounds.

"Issei, I know you got surprised by him; but you were severely outclassed. Why didn't you try to escape?" Jean turned to him. "Sometimes you have to retreat, there's no dishonor in fleeing an overwhelming opponent."

"That jerk was going to do ...things to Asia!" Issei snapped, annoyed with Jean's seeming indifference.

"And you thought you'd be a hero? Not much good at it are you? Do you have a deathwish?" Jean asked him with sigh.

"In his defense, he likely couldn't have fled. There was a barrier up until shortly before we went to help. You were right; something was wrong tonight." Rias said, taking no offense to his words toward Issei. She could see he was trying to teach Issei something about himself that the boy wasn't seeing.

"Well I'm heading home. I'll see if I can come up with a way to improve his abilities without breaking him too badly." Jean said, waving as he headed out the door.

A couple days later...

Once again though; Issei would end up in trouble while he was blatantly disobeying Rias' orders to stay away from Asia. A practice Jean thought to be abhorrent. A servant did NOT cross their master in the time period he was from; it usually resulted in lashings in the least or the death of the servant at the worst. It seemed like karma would come around quickly as another fallen angel would soon rear her head when the two kids were sitting beside a shallow pool of water.

Apparently this was Reinare; the leader of the local group of Fallen angels and she was the for Asia. Despite her and Issei having a past: she wasn't there for him and was, in fact, mocking his presence. As Issei tried to use his sacred gear to power himself up, Jean saw Reinare powering up a light spear and the instant she threw it he just appeared there between them grabbing it in midair a second before it hit Issei.

Jean let out a sigh as he felt the light energy searing his flesh and sizzling a bit though he held it still. "You really have got to stop leaving yourself open to attack boy." He said. "I suppose I'll have to have a word with Lady Rias about seeing to your combat training." Jean said and looked up at the angel.

"Who the hell are you?!" Reinare exclaimed, shocked that someone could just snatch HER light spear out of the air like that. Not only that, he was actually physically holding it. Despite the fact she could sense he was devil, he seemed resistant to light and that freaked her the hell out. "What the hell are you?"

"What I am is none of your concern. You Fallen angels have really let yourselves go if you dress like common ladies of the night." Jean said in a slight leering insult toward Reinare's outfit. "Or did you just step out of a bondage club?"

Reinare fumed a bit, blushing from the connotation. "I would NEVER deign to let a pathetic human touch me in such a way! They aren' t nearly good enough."

"Enough of this pointless banter." he said, clenching his hand and shattering her light spear. He'd turn to Issei and grabbed him by the shoulder and drug him out of the way by his clothing. "Go on then, take the girl. T'is none of our concern." He said to Reinare as he drug Issei away.

Within seconds the fallen angel and the nun were gone. Issei shook off his hand and turned on Jean angrily. "what the FUCK man?" he demanded. "I could've protected her, I could've stopped her from going! They aren't worth her time!" He started shouting.

Jean merely adjusted his glasses a bit and sighed. "She was going to kill you if you stood in her way. Asia may've healed you but then that fallen angel would've simply killed you in a single shot." Jean explained; he'd read the situation correctly. "You were in way over your head. I know you mean well and the urge to protect your friends is commendable but you forget one thing." Jean said and grabbed his shirt again and in a moment teleported them both back to teh clubhouse.

"What in the world?" Rias blinked, surprised by the sudden appearance.

"Lady Rias, I hate to interrupt you but..." he said, bowing to her and slinging Issei forward onto his face. "your pawn has been busy nearly getting himself killed by a fallen angel while he was out with that young lady you told him not to fraternize with." Jean reported dutifully and remained in the-knee bow he was giving her.

Rias could tell that this was Jean's natural behavior; as ancient as it was and she gave him a gesture of acknowlegement to release him from the kneeling position. He stood up and stepped back respectfully to allow her to deal with her pawn the way she deemed fit. Of course, she was angry at Issei, but more in the way of overwhelming concern. She was mad that he put himself into such terrible danger for such a reason. Issei would end up with a hard slap to the face and a blistering verbal browbeating but that was it. Jean believed it to be rather mild compared to what he was used to seeing.

However, Issei would blurt out something that would start the gears turning to action. "But Asia might die during this ritual!"

Rias, getting dressed since she'd just gotten out of her customary afternoon shower when they arrived; would have this suspicious look on he face. Fallen angels and rituals were never a good thing and everyone there would know something was probably going to happen. With a look toward Akeno; she'd turn to the rest sayin that she and Akeno were going to head out with something to take care of.

"Even a pawn can take down a king?" Issei blinked, hearing Rias explain the promotion power that was unique to pawns. The ability to penetrate enemy territory and become the same power as one of the other pieces.

"Yes they can." Jean said, having remained quiet throughout the browbeating and explanation. "It's true in history too. I've fought in enough battles to see a mere human soldier, sometimes boys not much older than yourself; drag themselves back to their feet and land a fatal blow on an enemy commander or even royalty." He said. "It's all bout determination and resolve."

He took a few steps toward Issei when the boy made his decision to go try to save Asia from the fallen angels. "Remember one thing boy. When you fight to protect or save someone, you're not only carrying your life in your hands; you're carrying theirs too." He said gravely. "It's your responsibility if they die on your watch."

When Issei, Koneko and Kiba had taken off toward the church, Jean's words were ringing in Issei's ears. To some extent; he understood what his teacher was trying to get at; but Issei was feeling too headstrong at that point to worry too much about it. That's not to say it didn't have an effect though; the boy felt more resolved than ever to rescue his friend and nothing would stand in his way of doing it. Not even the jerk that waited for them inside the main sanctuary of the building; the same guy that'd injured him before: Freed Seltzen.

Jean had gone with them but stayed to shadows; using his own unique abilites to go under their ability to sense him and stayed behind the large pillars that supported the cathdral roof. Seltzen was a match for all of them working together except with Issei not doing anything as Kiba and Koneko worked to keep the exorcist off balance. But to his credit; Issei would get in the final shot that would force Freed to have to retreat.

Just as the light burst went off; Jean shot through it like a lance of darkness and while it was affecting the others, there was a burst of dark energy and a shriek of agony. When it cleared, Jean was standing on the top of the archway leading out a side door holding Freed's arm. "He was pretty determined to get away, good show."

"Ugh gross, what'd you do?!" Issei shouted, momentarily distracted.

"He cut off his own arm when I grabbed him." Jean said, burning the twitching arm in a dark colored flame that seemed to consume the dim light around it and then seemed to crumble to dust out of his hand. "Go on, he told you were your girlfriend is." He said tapping on the arch with his foot.

"Here." Koneko said, smashing the wooden pulpit with a blow to reveal a staircase descending further into the church basement.

Unfortunately, they'd arrive to see that they'd gotten there a little too late and the ritual remove Asia's Twilight Healing was already complete. Issei would reach the bottom just in time to see the sacred gear get spiritually torn out of Asia body and reabsorbed into Reinare's. She'd go on to heartlessly explain that removing a sacred gear would always result in the death of the bearer; just to twist the knife she'd metaphorically stuck in Issei.

The Fallen angel would be so good as to let Issei have Asia back while Koneko and Kiba parted the sea" of priests to give him a straight line up the stairs to her in the back of the subterranean sanctuary. Reinare, however, actually other plans and was going to destroy them both at the same time while Issei cradled Asia's fading body. Issei was more talented than he seemed and avoided the light spear attack and made a sprint back up the stairs they'd come down return to the main sanctuary above.

As Issei laid Asia down on one of the benches, Jean stepped over and sighed; as Asia was fading, Jean's aura was growing larger, like the moonlight streaming in through the stained glass was being consumed by it. It wasn't growing larger in a noticeable way but it was steadily getting larger inversely to Asia's heartbeat it seemed.

The two of them would have their moment with Asia seeming to find a small measure of peace with Issei there in her final moments. Issei was trying to get her to rouse herself to stay with him.

"Even if it was for a short time..." Asia started to say. "I'm so happy that I made a friend..."

"Wh-what're you talking about?" Issei asked, then pulled out a small picture taken in a photo booth and showed it to her. "Look! It's the picture from the other day. Let's go take some more!"

Asia reached up and grasped his hand with both of hears and smiled wanely. "If I happen to be reborn...would you be my friend one more? Would you spend time with me again?"

Issei managed a weak, short chuckle. "What're you saying?" he said as tears began to well up as he knew deep inside that Asia was going to die no matter what he said. "Don't talk like that...we'll go to all kinds of neat places! Like, the arcade, Karaoke, even bowling! And...uhm.. that's it. That's..." He cut himself off as his mind floundered in it's mounting grief and sorrow. Then he'd go on to talk about how he'd introduce her to his perverted-but-good-hearted friends only to get cut off by Asia once more.

"I'm glad... you're crying for me...I don't need anything...else..." Asia was fading and quickly. What she could see that Issei couldn't was the figure standing behind Issei; shrouded in shadows and darkness yet oddly comforting. The figure reaching out a hand toward her as she was on her last moments. In her mind Asia could hear someone else's voice; speaking in a comforting manner but in a gender neutral fashion.

~It's time Asia. Don't be afraid, your friend will carry you with him in his heart always.~

Asia began to smile again at issei, reaching out to stroke the side of his face tenderly. "Goodbye..." she said and as she went limp; her spirit's hand extended out to accept that of the figure reaching out to her and gently pulled her through. It was a surreal experience for Asia; like the transition from life to death.

Jean stepped up from behind Issei and laid a hand on his shoulder, sympathizing with how he knew Issei felt. He also knew what was next; pleading and begging whatever "god" was listening to give back the lost. When it happened Jean shook his head and let it play out. "I know how you feel about this Issei."

"The hell do you know? You've been here the entire time and didn't do a damn thing to help her! And you want to tell me that you know how I feel?!" Issei raged at Jean. "All Asia wanted was to make friends and she'd have made so many more than just me!"

"Issei. I've seen alot of people live and die like this. Some of them were as close to me as you were with her; so trust me. I do understand how you feel but shouting and raging at god is meaningless." he said. Then his tone turned into a surprisingly bitter tone as he spoke up again.

"God cares nothing about you. He..she..it may give sparingly but takes without remorse and without pity. If god could say anything; ;he'd probably just tell you 'them's the breaks kid.' Or 'that's life, deal with it." Jean said, adding a shocking amount of anger his words ontop of the bitterness.

Issei just looked at Jean helplessly until Reinare's voice came up again. "Oh? A devil praying in church. How diabolical." she was mocking Issei's pain and Asia's death.

"You..." Issei growled under his breath as Jean lifted his hand off Issei's shoulder and stepped to the side.

"Why're there two of you here?" Reinare asked, suddenly seeming to notice him. "Oh, you're here to comfort the little boy that couldn't save his sweetheart. How touching."

"Oh look, it's the little black winged whore that thinks the power of healing makes her special." Jean bantered right back but his words were practically oozing sarcasm and malice.

"Ngh!" Reinare snorted then went back to taunting Issei about protecting Asia, pointing out that he already failed at that one. Explaining to him the effect of having a Sacred Gear had on humans; they were persecuted and ostracized throughout history regardless of their own opinions or ambition.

"While thats' true, just as many have turned their power into a driving force that made them legends." Jean smirked. "The boy here's got one of those type, youcan see it in his eye. I don't need to do anything other than lament the fact I don't have popcorn as he thrashes your worthless hide." He said backing off and leaned up against a pillar with his arms crossed, after adjusting his shades again.

With a familiar sounding roar of pain, anger, and sorrow; Issei went on the attack but poorly and couldn' connect at first. He was too consumed with wanting to strike Reinare that he wasn't thinking of the best way to do so and was just lashing out. Even a couple light spears to the legs would' t be enough to slow down his mounting rage. Unlike Jean though, Issei didn't have a resistance to it and was obviously in pain but didn't let it stop him from his goal.

~And he still hasn't learned to dodge or read his opponent..~ Jean sighed to himself with a palm against his forehead for a second.

Once it was all over, Rias and the others would show up to congratulate Issei on thrashing the fallen angel on his own. However, Rias would also gently admonish Issei's lack of skill by explaining the nature of his sacred gear to the two of them ; saying the only reason he won was because she let her guard down. But when Reinare tried to manipulate Issei into 'protecting' her in the form of his first girlfriend Yuuma Amano; he hesitated to finish her off and had to ask Rias to do it.

Jean would step up again and past them to see what was going on, as Reinare's death loomed, his aura seemed to swell again as Rias blasted her into oblivion. However, what none of them saw was the figure hiding being a pillar close to the door of the church, when Reinare exploded into a shower of black feathers, the figure darted out and snatched one of them. There was a quick flash of purple in the shower and a swiftly moving figure; but everyone would just think it to be a surviving priest making haste out of the building.

In the end of the night though; Asia would be revived as the bishop to the Gremory house, much to Issei's relief. Once they got back to the school, a welcoming party was in order. Though Jean wouldn' attend it, standing outside just looking up at the moon with a young woman about Asia's height with long red-orange hair bound in a ponytail beside him.

"Master, was getting involved with all this mess the right thing to do? I know it's been a long time since you associated with any devils but they're all so young." Inari questioned, looking at him.

"It'll be fine. It's because they're young that I'm making the choice to stay. At least this way I can still be useful to them, maybe even teach that knucklehead something." Jean smiled at her, scratching lightly behind Inari's fox-ears, making her swish her five tails around happily.

Several days later, everyone would be called; or in Jean's care; requested to join Akeno and Rias in the old school building for some reason. In the weeks he'd spent with the group, they'd all come to see Jean as just another member of the 'club'. Officially; he was labeled as the faculty advisor to the club, the member responsible for it amongst the adult faculty of the school, though the higher-ups knew what was really going on.

"I wonder what this is all about." He mused as he waited for the others at the door. That day he was wearing a sleeveless shirt with somewhat baggy pants cuffed into a pair of his normal buckled boots, with fingerless gloves on his hands as well as his now-trademark shades resting comfortably in front of his eyes. However, a large change that the cadre approaching caught sight of was how his hair was now fashionably spiked up in the front but retained it's normal center part to frame his face. The red streaks seeming to glow in the afternoon light in the spiked up areas; the length of his hair fell down his back to just shy of his waist.

"Damn teach, when did you have time to change?" Issei blinked.

"Magic can do alot of things kiddo." Jean smirked.

"Anyway, any idea why we're being asked to join them today? Isn't is supposed to be somethin of a day off?" Jean asked.

"I don't know, but likely Akeno does." Kiba said as Jean pulled the door open for them to go inside.

Just as he did, Jean immediately noticed the presence upstairs and could only smirk faintly; he knew who it was. As they entered the room, the others were somewhat cowed by the presence the silver-haired woman dressed in the maid's outfit was giving off as they filed in to join Rias.

However, when Jean and the woman made eye contact; he nodded a polite greeting to her and joined the others but leaned up against the wall behind them with his arms crossed. The woman began to blush faintly as their eyes met and cleared her throat for a moment before addressing Rias.

"My lady, may I have permission to speak openly?" The woman known as Grayfia asked politely.

To which Rias held up a hand signalling to be quiet for a second. "Let's hear her out." She said, addressing all those present.

Just as she did, a symbol glowed on the floor, prompting everyone to turn to pay attention and Asia hiding behind Issei and Jean taking a step forward to put himself between the entire group. The flames coming out of it with the materialization of a man in a suit were gaudy enough, it must've been someone fairly high up.

"Ah. And Riser has arrived in the human realm." the man said as he the flames died out. "I've come all this way to see you, my beloved Rias." He said, turning to face her.

"Ok, who's this douche?" Issei asked.

"This gentleman is lord Riser Phenex. He is a pureblooded devil of noble birth, third son to the House of Phoenix." Grayfia answered.

Jean's eyes went flat behind his shades, he'd heard of this man and knew that if he was here then something serious was up. Riser too much of an arrogant bastard to show up in the human world for any reason other than important matters.

"As a result; he is also the betrothed to heiress of the House of Gremory." Grayfia continued.

"You're joking right?!" Issei demanded.

"I am not, Lady Rias has been engaged to Lord Riser for quite some time." The silver-haired maid replied.

A few tense moments would pass as Akeno left to prepare some tea for Riser to be polite, though Jean could see in her carriage that she didn't like anymore than any else did. At least Riser had the good sense to compliment her on how tasty the tea was once he had sat down with Rias by his side, idly playing with her hair.

Issei's look said it all; though- he didn't think much of this man regardless of his rank.

Jean looked passive about it but had moved to stand at Ria's right side since Akeno was otherwise engaged. His visage stoic and his eyes concealed by his shades, Riser had perked a brow at the move but simply shrugged it off in his arrogance.

In a moment, Rias stood up; talkin to Riser. "That's enough. Let it go. Why don't you understand?" she asked. "I have no intention of ever marrying you."

"But darling, Riser believes that your family's circumstances are such that you can't afford to be so selfish." Riser said, giving a devil-may-car shrug and tone.

"I will not lead my family to ruin." Rias retorted. "I have no intention of denying you your right to our name. However, let me be clear: my husband will be MY choice."

"Remember, it's imperative that devils remain pureblooded. We're still recovering our numbers from the last war." Riser pointed out. "Your father and your brother decided on this with the future of devils in mind."

"My father and my brother and my whole clan made this decision, being in too great a rush." Rias replied. "For the final time Riser: I will NOT marry you."

"For the final time, Riser bears the reputation of the House of Phoenix." He countered. "Besmirching our good name is unacceptable."

"Hey!" Issei said, stepping a half step forward, as did Akeno.

"Riser doesn't care if he has to incinerate EVERYONE in this room." Riser said, obviously threatening them.

"Ah. So that's how so-called noble devils work." Jean said, stepping forward, mockingly clapping. "They have all the same traits as human nobility." He said, getting Riser to turn on him angrily and taking his focus off of Rias. "Your good name doesn't mean anything if you mean to force her into a marriage she so clearly doesn't want. How very HUMAN of you." He said.

"And who are you to speak to Riser in such tones?!" The nobleman demanded. "Are you one of her group?"

"Actually, I'm not old chap." Jean replied in a mockingly pleasant british accent. "I'm just a friend of the family."

"So you're a nobody then." Riser snapped. "Perhaps Riser should just incinerate you right now?"

Jean only gave a hollow sounding chuckle. "You can try, you overblown pile of _merde_." ina tone as frosty as Riser's was heated.

Grayfia stepped in before things got out of hand. "There is no need for incineration."

Jean bowed to Grayfia's words and withdrew back a step but kept close to Rias, now standing behind her as she faced Riser and Grayfia.

"Lady Rias, Lord Riser, as you know; I am here by order of Sirzechs, which means there will be no disruption of peace." She said to defuse the situation. With even Riser understanding the veiled nature of her words and backing down.

"My master anticipated that there'd be a conflict of some sort." Grayfia continued. "As such, he has assigned me a last resort should communication break down."

"Yes of course he did. Would you care to be a bit more specific?" Rias asked, behind her; Jean was faintly smirking at the turn of events.

"If my lady insists on putting her personal preferences over that of the family, she is to settle the matter in a Rating-Game with Lord Riser." Grayfia explained.

Issei would have a moment where Kiba and Akeno would explain to him the nature of a "Rating Game" in which mature devils would effectively flex their power without open warfare. Riser could go on to flaunt the fact that he'd partaken in several games and had a considerable amount of wins under his belt.

"Rias. I have to ask; is this adorable bunch the extent of your servants?" Riser asked, glancing between her and the others. "They're all you have?"

"And so what if they are?" Rias replied with her arms crossed.

Riser would laugh and snap his fingers, causing his family's magical symbol to appear again this time with fifteen young and mature women standing in it. "Riser has fifteen pieces." He stated, obviously mocking Rias' small group. "In other words, I have a complete set."

"it's not how many you have. It's how you use them." Jean replied to that with a handwaving gesture meant to antagonize Riser.

When confronted about why Issei was so seemingly jealous of Riser, and the explanation from Rias about how Issei wanted a harem; Riser rather distastefully began to make out with his own queen. Just to make the point of 'how much of a man' he was.

"How pathetic. The poor nobleman can only get some affection from those under his command." Jean added, mockingly.

Riser growled a bit under his breath, growing annoyed with the consistent picking at his ego.

After a few more words, Issei activated his sacred gear saying "to hell with some damn game, we can settle this right now!" and went on the attack. Only to get met by a blue-haired girl named Mira; causing him to stop and hesitate.

However, before he got the crap beat out of him AGAIN for provoking a fight and not being ready to carry through when confronted with a girl; Jean stepped up and grabbed Mira's pole as she went to attack. He held it tight and then shoved it back into her stomach and released it, hurling the girl to smash up against the back wall with enough force to embed her in it. But the force of the sudden stop smashed Issei back from the mere inertia of the blow striking him making him collapse to his knees coughin since he had the air blasted out of him.

Rias would go to Issei to make sure he was ok. But outraged over teh fact that Riser would even consider having one of his people attack Issei was enough to push her into accepting teh Rating-Game challenge. To offset Rias' inexperience and the comparative strength of the groups; Grayfia would give them a ten-day period to train and improve.

As Riser went to leave Rias spoke up again. "Riser, believe me when I say we will annihilate you."

Apparently, Rias had set up a training location in the mountains thanks to her family owning the property. The training would begin right away after everyone put their things into the rooms they'd be staying in while there were there. Kiba and Issei would end up sharing one of the larger rooms alongside Jean; who was simply taking it in stride and preparing himself for all of it. He knew that he'd likely be asked to help train them all given his experience. Though he was still a mystery to Rias, Akeno and the others; though only the first two had tried to dig up information.

There was very little other than that he'd been active as a devil in the world for an extremely long time; some devil records saying he'd been one for almost a millenia. Others trying to pin down his age and rank but without success; some saying he was a high-ranking devil noble himself and others stating he was always a servant. The truth lay somewhere in between the two extremes but there were no clues.

During Issei's training with Kiba; Jean watched them sparring with a discerning eye behind his shades. Kiba had talent indeed; and was a good instructor for Issei at this point. The boy had to learn the basics before he could learn what Jean had to teach. The next lesson was magic with Akeno; where she was explaining the the best way to use it was to visualize one's energy concentrating on a single point.

"That's one way to learn magic. I remember I had to figure it all out without the help of such a lovely instructor." Jean grinned a bit; remembering how- many upon many years ago; he was doing almost the same thing but he had to do it IN BATTLE.

"Oh my." Akeno blushed a bit and laughed, going along with it. "Then why no demonstrate what I mean?" she suggested.

Jean simply held out his hand and created a small glowing orb in it of dark energy with a purplish-blue core.

"That's exactly what I mean." Akeno smiled, pressing her hands together a little.

"Or perhaps this?" Jean asked, making the energy vanish then reappear but at the tip of a single finger. The ball was very tiny though but Akeno could tell it was extremely concentrated in that tight space meaning any burst from that would likelybe exceptionally powerful.

"That's very advanced control." Akeno agreed. "Go on you two, try it." she smiled to encourage Asia and Issei.

Issei would produce a tiny ball of weak energy while Asia produced about a baseball sized orb of green energy. Then Akeno would demonstrate her ability to boil water to burst a bottle then instantly freeze it.

"Wow! You're quick." Issei said.

"And you will be too, once you grasp the technique you can control fire, water, lightning, any of the elements." Akeno explained. "I bet this would be easy for you Asia. Want to try?"

"Sure!" Asia smiled

"You." she turned to Issei. "need to work on those concentration exercises."

"I know.." Issei groaned.

"It's true, magic relies on your ability to focus and visualize what you want to happen. If your skill and power is up to snuff it just happens." Jean said. "And No Issei there isn't any real limit on what you can do." He said after Issei asked about it.

Akeno looked over at him with a raised brow and smiled. "Care to demonstrate?" she prompted.

Jean gestured with a single hand and wreathed the area they were standing in in ghostly bluish green flames that didn't seem to burn anything, then the flames turned icy blue and seemed to freeze over before another gesture made them turn to crackling electricity; then a final one turned them into inky black fire. That last one seemed to make a glow come from behind Jean's shades as it erupted up then died back into nothing. "it's all about visualization."

Issei and Asia jumped at the sudden magical changes going on around them, but for whatever reason; Akeno was blushing at it before clearing her head as he stopped.

When then went to go catch up with lessons from Koneko and Rias; Jean remained behind when Akeno stopped him.

"Hmm? What is it?" he asked.

"Your control of magic is...exceptional. Where did you learn it? You said you had to figure it out on your own right?" she asked.

"Indeed, it was something I picked up after I became a devil. I simply put myself into situations where I had to learn and utilize it in a short amount of time." Jean explained. "That and having several centuries of practice gave me time to polish it."

"Wait, Centuries?" Akeno blinked. "That would explain it. But before; you made Kiba ...afraid with a glance; how did you do that?" she was dying to know, the ability to make someone afraid by glancing at them sort of turned her on.

"I projected a bit of my magical power through my eyes into his and planted the notion of terror in his mind. His body just followed suit." Jean explained. "It's a weakness all revived devils have. They still hold onto things that make them human; like base fears." He said. "Not that it'd ever work on someone as talented as yourself."

Akeno just smiled at that. "But mind-affecting magic is exceptionally difficult; you have to understand how the other person is thinking or feeling."

"But there are some things so deeply ingrained into humans that it doesn't matter what they think or feel." Jean replied, and the two of them would settle down to happily "talk shop" the others were training.

After dinner...

The group would retire to the outdoor baths, separated by gender of course. The girls were all chatting about their day up to that point, just glad it would melt away the fatigue of training. The guys would be in the springs across a solidly built wall with Issei trying to get a peek through the seam of the wall since he could hear the girls. Kiba wa was just washing himself up and teasing Issei about leaving him and the wall alone for a little bit. Jean just let out a faint laugh of amusement as he leaned up against the wall nearby; but unlike the others; he had his wings out and was cleaning them with a wire brush.

Looking over when they heard the sound, Kiba and Issei both got to see Jean there with them when he hadn't been there a second ago.

"How in the?!" Issei jumped.

"You weren't there before..." Kiba said.

"You two weren't paying attention. I expected it from Issei but you Kiba, for shame." Jean just grinned at him, poking a bit of fun while he cleaned his wings. But the odd thing was that parts of his body looked like that they'd grown scales too, like along his neck and shoulders and down the outsides of his arms.

"What's up with that?" Issei blinked, noticing the gleam.

"Oh? My scales or my wings?" Jean asked, pausing in his meticulous cleaningn of the rough scales of his wing-arms.

"Both!" Issei almost shouted.

"I use mine more than you do so I find it's best to keep them clean." Jean said.

"That's not my point!" Issei fumed.

"I believe he means that you shouldn't have those normally." Kiba said.

"We're devils. These are...just a side effect of my status as one is all." Jean said in a very faintly evasive fashion, though neither of the others could tell.

They let it go at that and Issei would return to trying to visualize the girls on the other side. Kiba asking himn if xray vision was part of the training and Issei going on about how his powers were given to him for a damn good reason.

"How ...distasteful." Jean said. "Didn't Koneko tell you at dinner that if you peeked she'd kill you?"

"Yeah so?" Issei retorted.

"She meant it you know. Or do you just not care?" Jean sighed.

"As long as I get to see them naked, it'd be worth it!" Issei shouted.

"And they likely heard that." Kiba commented.

Jean began to mutter in a foreign language at that point as he put a palm to his face...still wearing his shades. Saying roughly. "This boy is an idiot, how he's survived this long is beyond me."

"What was that?" Issei asked, not recognizing the language.

Jean gave him a look that spoke volumes and made Issei drop the question.

The next day; Rias would give everyone a short-yet-long explanation of the nature of devils, the war that'd claimed the other 69 pillars of devil houses; and the origin of the Rating-Games and the game's impact. Though afterward, Rias would ask Asia to give them a lesson in her life as a holy sister. Since Jean was there as well; he'd get this oddly pained expression on his face at the mention of that. Just hanging his head for a momentn so his hair shadowed his eyes as memories rushed back to him from the veil of time.

Asia explained how exorcists worked with an introduction to holy water; warning them that it would burn devils and do other bad things to them. Then she explained the significance of the bible and found out firsthand how she wasn't allowed to read it anymore. As she did, Jean's expression began that of profound hate for those items; so much so that the sheer intensity of it made Asia start to panic and the others to turn to him wondering what was up.

"What?" Rias blinked turning to him and jerked back a bit seeing that look of such intense hate it made her withdraw a bit.

Then in a tone so full of malice and speaking in the vilest of languages; the language of hell itself; Jean spoke up, unable to hide his vitriol for those items. His words didn't sound like English, Japanese or anything else but instead they heard the translation in their minds.

"That thing is full of lies. False promises and empty sacrifice. It demands that those who bend no knee to 'god' be exterminated as "heretics" and asks it's believers to die in it's name for false promises of paradise after death." he growled and his eyes flashed again; the bible seeming to burst into inky black flames along the edges but seemed to be repelled by it's very nature of being a holy book.

"Stop it!" Asia shouted, trying to beat the flames out with her hands.

Jean jolted out of his hate-filled glare and shook his head, the ink black fires receding entirely. "My apologies Asia." He said quietly. "I know it's important to you; I've...just lost alot because of what books like that speak of." He admitted.

She looked upset for a second but nodded, forgiving him for it; as that was just how she was. However, Issei looked pissed off that he'd tried to damage something so important to Asia and was about to leap out of his chair and do something stupid.

The others could sense that it wasn't just a hateful outburst; Jean really did have something wrong with him tied to the bible and what it stood for. It was something Rias would decide to pursue later on and clear up all the mystery surrounding their 'guest.'

That night, Jean wouldn't be able to sleep; his outburst earlier brought all his pain, anger and sorrow bubbling up from within. Rias had questioned him rather closely about why he'd spoken like that. He'd just told her that he'd had alot of friends and comrades that'd died for the cross in the past; thinking their deaths would mean something. He'd seen it so much that he was forever jaded in matters of religion and would never again find solace in anything relating to that religion. It would make enough sense to Rias that she couldn't hold his outburst against him at least.

The rest of the training period would proceed in an increasingly more rigorous fashion to keep the training up to snuff. One of the days Issei would approach Jean during a break in the training to ask him a few things; namely about that young woman he'd seen him with.

"Who was that? After Asia joined us I saw you outside with a girl about her height but with weird orange-red hair." Issei asked. "She was super hot, who was she?"

Jean glanced at him in an amused fashion from behind his shades. "That was my familiar Inari." He replied. "As you could probably tell; she's a kitsune." he explained.

"Whoa! Really? Damn so familiars can be attractive!" Issei blurted.

"I suppose so? That didn't really matter when I met her; she was just a little fox kit." Jean smiled warmly.

"So how'd you actually find her in the famiilar forest?" Issei asked, curious.

"She actually found me." Jean laughed a bit, remembering. "I was taking a break and she quite literally just hopped up on my lap and curled up for a nap."

Issei couldn't help but laugh at that. "I have another question that's been nagging at me."

"Go ahead and ask."

"Why do you wear those sunglasses all the time? Even inside and at night." Issei finally blurted out.

"I don't want anyone to be able to tell where I'm looking at any given time?" Jean suggested.

"Oh..." Issei sighed, he thought it was something ...cooler.

"You see, in battle when it's just one on one people will often watch their opponent's eyes, shoulders and hips to get clues to what they're thinking." Jean explained. "The eyes will glance at where they want to target at least once, though more experienced fighters will just trust their aim and not do that." He continued. "The shoulders and hips tell you where they're goin to swing, when they're going to do it and how much force they're mustering."

Issei tried to wrap his mind around the knowledge being laid on him but couldn't make sense of it right away. "That sounds complicated."

"It is and it isn't. The next time you spar with Kiba, try to do it. Maybe you'll take less bruising." Jean suggested again. "But don't get distracted going it, the key is to quickly assess what they're telling you then trust yourself to act on it. And to key to it is to not hesitate."

Issei winced at that, knowing that he had a problem with that little factor in almost every fight he'd been in so far.

"It takes some time to get used to doing but it' s best to practice while you can here, and not have to do it in a real fight." Jean said, getting up from where he was sitting. "Now if you'll excuse me." He said and started to walk away.

That same night; he'd go to meet up with Akeno- who wanted to ask him a few more questions about his own abilities. She'd seen how he'd attempted to burn that bible earlier through sheer manifestation of his hatred for it. She felt more curious than anything, having an interest in others of extreme magical talent.

When he finally arrived he closed the door behind him. "You wanted to see me Akeno?" He asked politely as he entered the room.

Akeno gaze lingered for a moment since he was dressed in more casual clothing; consisting of what had to be a wool-blend robe that was belted around the waist to cinch it shut but had a deep V open, exposing some skin of his torso. She'd shake it off for a moment and invited him to sit with her; having already prepared some tea. "I wanted to ask you a little more about your magic and how you learned it, even if you had a long time to practice it; not many can conjure the same effects you have without any outward sign." She squirmed a little. "Even I have to use some gestures to use my more powerful spells."

"Is that it?" He asked with a faint chuckle as he joined her. "As I said; I learned it myself. But I did have some instruction from the queen of my first peerage." He explained. "She was alot like you, very magically powerful and skilled; but she had a terrible temper and had a tendency to lash out." Jean explained. "Her idea of teaching was to attack me with it and dared me to copy what she was doing having seen it in action."

"So she gave you more or less 'on the job' training? That seems overly harsh though." Akeno replied with a furrowed brow; she could see the point but she didn't like the method.

"She said I had a talent for it and she wanted to draw it out, so she was intent on beating it out of me." Jean sipped his tea a little, savoring the delightful taste for a moment. "Our master didn't like it much; he was very firmly in the belief that we all had to act in accordance to our pieces."

"You mean Pawns like Issei WERE sacrificial?" Akeno was surprised by that callous use of the evil-pieces. It upset her as well that there were devils that wanted nothing more out of their pieces than their use as the piece alone.

"Exactly. In the last rating game he played; he sacrificed all of his remaining 5 pawns to try and launch a blitzkrieg attack on his rival. That was countered by a rook and knight paired together and the pawns were slaughtered to the last man." Jean sighed.

"How terrible. We'd never do something like that." Akeno couldn't disguise the look of disgust that rushed over her beautiful features for an instant.

Jean smiled a little. "I know. That's part of the reason I've decided to more or less tag along with your group."

Akeno was interested now though, she wanted to hear more about this original peerage; maybe she could pick up some new things by hearing about some history. "Can you tell me a little more?" she pressed gently, her interest showing.

"In what? The peerage or the game?" He asked.

"Given we're about to enter another rating game; that might be the best option." She replied.

"Hoping to garner some tips from history huh?" Jean chuckled a little, then seemed to be thinking for a moment as he swirled the tea in the cup. "By the end, we were a full group of 15. No piece was of higher value than the one they were given; we didn't have anyone like Issei." He said. "All of them had disparate personalities and ideals; but we were all dedicated to our master even if we didn't get along personally with each other. I'd fight with our rooks and the bishops would argue with the knights about their recklessness and all." He said.

Even though she still couldn't see his eyes behind those shades that he never seemed to remove; Akeno got the sense that he had this distant look. LIke he was searching through and pulling memories out. "A little disparity is to be expected. It helps keep things interesting as long as you all worked toward the same goals."

"Indeed. But our master was very prideful bordering on arrogant; sort of like that man Riser." Jean said, "Domineering when he wanted to be but he had a freakish obsession with our queen as well. The rumor was that they'd been a thing in the past and he'd put her into his power as a servant to keep her close." Jean said with obvious distaste in his continence at that. "It was really quite uncalled for; he'd ignore the lot of us if she had something she needed."

"That's...not unheard of. After all, the Kings are allowed to choose whomever they want for their pieces and they don't have give their reasoning." Akeno replied, though the idea of a forced bond like that upset her, it was disrespecting the system as well as the woman in question.

Jean sighed, this was painful topic to explain but perhaps getting it out would alleviate some of his feelings of failure that he'd carried for over five centuries. "IN the end; our master was duped into a rating game that resulted in everyone except myself, a rook, the other knight and a bishop all dying." He said, in a flash of uncharacteristic anger, he shattered the cup in his hand, getting shards of porcelian in his hand but didn't seem to notice. "Our master sent them all to their deaths in a desperate plan to satisfy his ego. Then when our queen was killed; he used some sort of magic that had removed the evil-piece from her and forcibly inserted it into me since I was the last piece he had on the board." He explained.

"!" Akeno's look of shock was a genuine as her horror at how callous this devil had been.

"Because of the power overload, I released a burst of energy that destroyed our master as well as his rival. He may've been an arrogant jerk at times, but he'd been a good man to me and had taken care of me since I was turned into a devil." Jean said sadly. "I owed him more than the wave of destruction I gave him in the end." He said resting his hand on his forehead, fighting back tears of remorse from the painful memory.

"It's ok... really it is." Akeno said, reaching over and taking his uncut hand; offering him some comfort the best she could given the situation. "It had been his choice to do that; there result of it wasn't your fault." she said soothingly.

Jean took a breath and nodded, that look of painful remorse was gone; but probably not forgotten. "You're right. It was his fault but I've always believed that it happened because I was a knight at the time and not ready to absorb the power of a queen on top of it. Since pieces can't be removed unless the bearer dies; the queen's power absorbed the knight and mutated." He said. "Or that's the way it was explained to me later."

"It's something to look into; but try to put it out of your mind. Instead; we could really use your experience to come up with a battle plan against Riser." Akeno finally said. "You should get Asia to heal your hand when she can, you may've cut something important."

"It'll be fine. For some reason; healing outside of my own or mundane medical treatment doesn't affect me. "Jean said.

"Oh." Akeno blinked, she'd never heard of something like that; Asia's Twilight Healing was supposed to be able to heal any injury no matter how grave. "Let me get those pieces out then." she said.

"It'll be fine I can use tweezers to do it.." He replied. "but thank you for the concern."

Akeno gave a nod to that as he rose to go do that.

"I apologize for smashing your cup. But your tea was exquisite." he smiled pleasantly to her. "I'll see you again tomorrow mi'lady." He bowed to her and departed in a swish of shadows as he seemed to vanish.

Akeno just looked at the spot for a moment, blushing. "Teleportation magic? No that isn't it, I didn't see any magical circle being used. Maybe it was that shadow?" she blinked, trying to wrap her mind around the oddness of it.

The days passed with the training largely being the focus of events; with some extra stuff being tacked on at the end. Jean became more involved after his discussion with Akeno; taking an active hand in teaching both Issei and Kiba more about combat. Respecting the innate talent Kiba had and trying to embed some combat know-how into Issei; he'd step up to Rias one cloudy afternoon.

"Lady Rias. May I give them one of my own lessons today? They both could benefit from it I believe." He requested politely.

"Huh?" Rias blinked then considered it. "I don't see how it could hurt things. Go ahead, just don't do any severe damage and don't use a sacred gear if you have one." she said.

"No worries about that. I don't have a Sacred Gear Lady Rias." Jean replied. "As far as I know."

"You can just call me Rias." she replied, flustered but only for a few seconds.

He stepped out one Issei and Kiba were done with a quick spar. "Alright. I'm going to teach you something that was important back in the day." He said, making a little joke on his own age and smoothly drew out a french arming sword that was dulled for training purposes but could still hurt.

"Pft and what's that?" Issei asked. "I don't even have a sword to use." He felt a little out of league with weapons.

"If you don't have one then step back. It'd be terribly unfair if you don't have one." Jean said and looked at Kiba. "Knight to Knight Kiba." He said and conjured an armored gauntlet and cast it to land at Kiba's feet and looked at him seriously.

Kiba, as confident as he was in own ability and education was a little confused for a moment then remembered what it meant. A bright smile crossed his face as he nodded and snapped out his wooden sword, strengthened to approximate steel by magic.

At that point it would seem like an eternity before either a move but Jean struck first, making a whip-like slicing motion at Kiba's hand. Kiba responded by simply moving his hand and sword out of the way but kept the point aimed at jean; but then quickly sidestepped a quick thrusting lunge. The blonde would try to counter with a slash of his own that was foiled by a flick of Jean's wrist that brought the slim-bladed arming sword up to block with the guard and base of the blade. Jean then moved the point to slide around Kiba's sword and tried to flick it out of his hand; succeeding only so far as to scoop it aside. But with the point so close to Kiba's body Jean reversed angle again and cut a nice slit in Kiba's shirt when the youth fell back to avoid it.

Understanding the rules of the duel itself, the two would clash, parry and actually seemed to be dancing in their own way. Watching it from the side, the onlookers were amazed by the skill being displayed. They'd break apart after a particularly flashy exchange of attacks. Jean would then lower the weapon and put it away, as if realizing something. "YOu have skill Kiba; but you missed one very critical aspect." He said.

"What was that?" Kiba blinked, lowering his weapon as well.

"Duels are commonly to first blood and you have no way to inflict that on me with a blunt weapon." Jean explained. "But that wasn't the point of this exercise. It was to help with your reaction time and learning your weakness as a knight." Jean said. "From all that footwork I put you through, don't your legs ache from having to move so suddenly and maintain that?"

"No...not particularly." Kiba replied. "why?"

"Because it would've taken only one mistake on your part or a lucky stab on mine and you could've been severely wounded, then you would've lost your speed advantage." Jean said. "Knight pieces are weak to attacks that target the legs. Once you've lost your footing, you can be knocked off balance. Always know where your legs are in a fight." he explained. "Then again I'm sure you know this. I just wanted you to remember it; in a real fight like a rating game; others will try to take you out like that."

Kiba did know that but a refresher lesson was always helpful; he'd step aside to consider a few things as Jean turned to Issei. "Alright boy. Come on, your turn."

"I told you I can't fight with a sword." Issei retorted.

"Then what can you fight with?" Jean asked. "You don't really have much other than your sacred gear and your own passion. But Rias has told you not to use your gear, how will you deal with a situation like that?" He asked. "You will invariably run into a situation where you can't power up fast enough to use it."

"I can take anything that they throw at me. " Issei repied confidently without mentioning his "dress break" but it did cross his mind.

"Then come along then, show me." Jean said.

Issei looked at the others as if for encouragement; as he was unsure of the point.

"He'll just get beat up as always until he gets powered up enough. " Koneko said with a piece of chocolate in her mouth.

"I will not!" Issei replied immediately.

Jean reacted to that by holding out his hand and formed what looked like a light spear but forged out of inky darkness instead. In a split second Issei would feel the icy cold of the spear rip through his body as he saw the sharp end of it protruding from his stomach.

"Issei!" Rias gasped.

"Oh no!" Asia started to rush forward.

"What the?!" Kiba wanted to know.

But, there was nothing there in a second but Issei still felt the cold sting of it but no penetration; no injury. "What the..." he turned on Jean. "what the FUCK was that about?!"

"Making a point, you say you can handle what they would throw at you; but when that's happened in the past you'd have been really hurt had I not been there." Jean explained then grabbed Issei by the his collar and hauled him closer by a step. "Your enemies will not think twice about taking your life if you merely stay in one place to power up or react slowly." He explained then turned, dragging Issei with him then shoved him out to the field.

"Ack!" Issei let out as he stumbled and tripped. It was by an instant he was forced to move again by a sudden sound of rushing air. Issei got up to his feet and looked where he was laying a second ago and blanched at bit at the sight of a deep slash in the dirt.

"Avoid the attacks Issei." Jean said, firing off spells at the boy. He wasn't trying to miss Issei either but was keeping his magical attacks as weak as he possibly could. "Each type of elemental attack has a tell when they're incoming." He explained, hurling a firebolt at Issei. The bolt gave off a distinctive burning sound as it approached and Issei could pick up on it when it got within a certain distance if he didn't se it.

It went on for the rest of the day with Jean pelting Issei with various elements of fire, cold, lightning and wind. He didn't use any earth magic though; nor any of the other exotic elements. The point was to sharpen the boy's senses and reflexes enough to keep him alive until he could power up his trump card. They'd only stop when Rias asked them too, citing the fact that Issei needed some healing after messing up too much.

She looked a bit displeased with the method of training but she could understand the practicality of it. Akeno understood the method even more so; having heard Jean's story about how he'd been trained with magic.

The last night before the rating game; everyone had returned home to prepare in their own ways after the training camp. There were, afterall, some things one needed to do alone; whether it was to prepare final, last minute minute battle plans, get a some sleep; or nervously stay awake until the appointed hour. Jean had returned home, looking over the various small photos he had. Most were of his past peerage; created by the use of magic and his own memories of them. The photos may not have been One-Hundred Percent accurate but they were close enough to make him feel nostalgic.

He wondered for a few moments what the survivors were doing. He hadn't heard from any of them in a very long time and was starting doubt any remained alive. When he woke up after 200 years of dormancy he'd released a signal to anyone that may've known him that he was still around; but in the last three years, none of them had replied. Jean's mind replayed that Rating Game dozens of times over his time, trying to figure out what he'd done wrong and no matter what mental tactics he tried it would end the same way. The fallen friends, those he lost in the past, gave him a strange feeling of resolve pulsing in his heart; he wouldn't let this new peerage down.

He woudn't allow them to meet such an ignoble end like that. Riser was a jerk and it was time to stuff that bird's craw with the bitter taste of defeat. To that end; Jean opened a few files he'd procured using Inari as a go-between- trying to figure out Riser's tactics and battle methods using the records of his past Rating Games. Jean wanted to find a weakness to exploit and in the final moments before it was time; he'd find a minor one. Perhaps it'd be enough.

The group would meet with Sona and Tsubaki of Citri before the game, since the two of them would be announcing the game to the world. Soon enough, Grayfia showed up to announce that things were ready and that, when they were ready, she'd teleport the entire group into the alternate neutral space, an extra-dimensional space created purely for the event. She and Jean would exchange a glance and the faintest of nods in acknowledgement once the others had been transported through the symbol into the space.

"It's nice to see you in good health Lady Grayfia." he finally said as he approached the symbol. "Level with me. What kind of dimensions is the space using for this?" He asked her seriously.

Grayfia flushed a bit and broke her normally stoic expression and smiled a bit. "It's going to replicate this school. I hope that helps." She said quietly.

Jean nodded and stepped into the symbol and vanished, even with that small bit; he was already preparing battle plans to accomodate the situation.

When the peerage got there and learned what was going on and the environment they were in, along with the conditions for pawn-promotion, Issei would start to get worked up again. Saying that he was going to smash through everyone else, get promoted then lay Riser out. Jean would just shake his head and sigh again; no matter how hard anyone tried- it seemed like NOTHING got through that boy's thick skull.

"I wouldn't do that unless you want to get your ass handed to you." Akeno replied with a smile and an oddly happy look.

"He's smart dude, most likely; he's going to want to move his pawns into our territory right away." Kiba would comment. "We gotta keep enough players nearby to make sure that doesn't happen."

"So not as badass as my plan." Issei was crestfallen about it.

"Badass isn't as important as victorious Issei. All your plan would do is draw all attention onto you and you'd get your ass kicked just like Akeno said. Then where would we all be?" Jean asked him with a bit of a grin. "Think Issei, play to your own strengths here; remember how long it takes you to power up." He reminded him.

They'd all get what amounted to magical communcations pieces at that point so they could all keep in contact during the fighting. Then they'd get to planning with the map of the school laid out on the desk; but since it was Rias' game to win or lose; Jean would merely keep quiet about what he was thinking unless she asked.

~Create passive defenses here first. We know that Riser's going to try something right off the bat, probably trying to draw us out of position here.~ Jean thought as he looked over it; but was also listening to what they were discussing. Searching the map; Jean realized how tight of a situation it was without much room or manpower to perform a pincer attack, the method Jean favored. There was a reason commanders throughout history hated having to fight two-front battles; being ground between two hostile forces was never fun.

When Rias decided to have Kiba and Koneko go prepare traps in the woods; Jean grinned a bit. It wasn't as good as having someone stay in that area but since they only had he small group it was best they could do. Then she'd sent Akeno to go back them up with her illusion magic; good idea- enemies were more likely to trip over a trap when they couldn't tell which were real.

With Rias giving Issei and Asia orders to effectively standby, Jean understood what she was doing next by having Issei rest his head on her lap. It would give the boy a needed boost to his confidence as well as whatever else Rias had in mind. While they did that; Jean continued to plan by looking over themap- he was considering using his own familiar to launch a feint attack on the clubhouse adjacent to the main building where Riser's base was located. The point would be to synchronize with Koneko locking down the gym to draw the enemy away from the gym and in the wrong direction. That should take some of the pressure off of Koneko when she did what she needed to do.

When Issei left with Koneko to enact stage one of their plan, Jean stayed behind but would quietly dispatch Inari to move into position near the clubhouse. She had orders to "ghost" the area with Illusions and produce a field that would create the sensory illusion of "nothing going on" from Riser's position. Hopefully it would buy them a bit more time to move about but would only last as longas it took for someone to investigate.

"Lady Rias, what do you want me to do? I've put out Inari to try and buy you some time to move as you need to but it likely won't last that long." Jean reported to her, explaining what his familiar was going to do.

"I want you to stay close to here, Riser knows you but he doesn't know what you can do. Hopefully this works and we can make moves at our own pace." Rias said, sitting in her chair.

"Of course." Jean replied. "But I'll move out at the first sign of things going sideways out there. It's a knight's job to attack afterall." He grinned faintly. "I'd normally suggest we attack then withdraw and be ready for his counterattack, but, more likely, he'll overreact and try to rush once things start." Jean said analytically. "He gets off on dominating his opponents and will try to force you into a position where he thinks you'll have to submit to him."

"That's not happening." Rias said immediately in her most serious tone.

"If not, he's going to take out every single piece you have on the board until you do." Jean added, feeling a full body shudder run through him at that idea. One of suppressed pain trying to surface again; only to be forced down by his will.

"I see..." Jean said, spotting the nearby gym just get leveled by Akeno's thunder magic. "Lure them in then blow them to hell." He couldn't help but smile a bit; he'd done the same thing several times in the past. "Will Akeno be alright to continue after that though?"

"She'll need to recharge but she'll be fine." Rias replied.

"Call them back." Jean said suddenly. Just as the gym went up, explosions of ghostly blue-green flames erupted from the clubhouse adjacent to the main building. Inari feeding him information through their master-familiar bond that several of Riser's pieces were out to investigate and fight off an attack from that side. "Inari's got a few of his pieces out on a fruitless chase."

Rias thought about that for a second and nodded, seeing the possibilities. Ideally Riser would overreact to the two attacks and divide his forces accordingly. But just as she was about to, They'd lose contact with Koneko; then the report of her "retirement" came through; apparently Riser didn't take the bait as much as Jean hoped. Worst of all; he'd reacted by dispatching his queen to deal with the issue at hand- meaning Issei, Koneko and Kiba were all out of their league. Their only hope was if Akeno was ready to go to fend that queen off.

Jean's eyes narrowed behind his shades. ~I knew it. He's wasting no time in eliminating the pieces... and he's going to do be a coward and not do it himself. He arrogantly prides himself on his rating game prowess but this is hardly a fair battle.~ Jean thought as he quietly called Inari back to his side to prevent her from being found out. He gritted his teeth a bit to the point his fangs were starting to show a bit. ~He doesn't want to bother coming out himself. Maybe I should force his hand and chase him out.~ But then he shook it off, he wasn't an official member of the group and this was Rias' battle to win or lose.

When Rias decided that she was going to launch a surprise assault on Riser directly, Jean snapped to face her, she was rushing toward defeat like that. But with Riser's queen on the field it seemed like they had little choice; if they sat back she'd just blast them all one-by-one. "This isn't the right move Mi'lady." was all he'd say as his mind rushed down every possible consequence of her action. He couldn't see an answer to it that she'd listen to; her desire to beat Riser was starting to block out good sense.

The best idea was to back Akeno up and hopefully she could remove the other queen. While Jean had queen-piece powers too; he was loathe to make use of them because it wouldn't really be Rias' Win if they won because of that.

"I know it's not but it's the only thing we have left.." Rias replied, taking Asia with her. "reinforce the boys if things start to go bad, buy as much time as possible." she instructed.

"Yes Mi'lady" Jean bowed to her, feeling his heart growing heavy at the situation. In the back of his mind, the old memories of the past were hammering at his consciousness ; it felt like a repeat of what went before. Damn History for enjoying it's own replays.

Just as Rias left; Jean would spot something going on in the field below, listening in on the magical communication; he could pick up that Issei and Kiba were outnumbered. While Kiba may be able to handle it with his speed; he was engaged with a rival knight which meant all his concentration had to be on that fight. Issei was too battle-untested to last too long against that many at once.

"... _Merde._ " Jean muttered under his breath and adjusted the fit of his longcoat and headed out to go back them up, seeing as they'd need it in about ten seconds.

He'd get there in time to see Issei get punted like a football but felt the sacred gear's powerup in the form of it's pulse. So he'd hang back, partially concealed in the shadows to watch; maybe Issei could do it afterall. Kiba looked like he was handling himself exceptionally well too- hopefully the lessons he gave them helped. ~Two Knights, Two bishops, a rook and a few pawns. And that queen. Riser did sent out everyone; you were right.~ Jean thought as he scanned the area. ~Maybe I'm not needed here afterall?~

"Swordbirth huh? Impressive." Jean mused as things continued. Kiba had just switched between four different magical swords in the span of a few moments to counteract the abiities of the knight he was facing off against. Including causing a ground eruption of blades to force her to back off even more.

Then he jolted back at the release of Issei's "Dragon Shot" and let out a low whistle. "So he was buying time to power up for it. Good work boy." Jean smiled a bit from where he was. Too bad Issei missed the energy beam attack, and would have to fall back on his other skills; he blew his load too early. Then came the "Dress break" move he'd concocted, which made pretty much everyone STOP what they were doing to comment on how crass and perverted it was.

~So much for finesse and good taste.~ Jean sighed, putting a hand ot his forehead; but he'd seen the way Issei did it; using wind blades to slice off the young woman's clothing to force her to stop fighting in embarrassment. Effective, but crass. ~I guess he doesn't have the heart to actually hurt them...at least it removed the rook in the end with another Dragon Shot.~

When Issei reached the second form of his Sacred Gear, Jean whistled again and couldn't help but feel a bit proud of his student. It would seem that his fears of Issei being overpowered were unfounded and it felt good to see him holding his own. When the so-called "Bomb queen" crashed to the ground nearby with Akeno still floating in the air, it seemed like she was handling her own exceptionally well; Jean couldn't help but be impressed with her as well.

With Issei and Kiba's combined attack to create a huge field of blades, they'd wipe out the rest of Riser's pieces other than his sister Ravel and the Queen. However, the joy would be short lived with another bomb blast that sent Akeno falling out of sky.

With a choked outcry, Jean cast off his shadow cloak and launched himself into the air with a powerful stroke of his wings, catching as she fell. "What happened Akeno? You had her." He asked, descending slowly.

"She had...something to recharge her magic. Be careful." Akeno warned him as they touched down.

As she dispersed into the glimmering lights of the teleportation effect that would carry her off to be treated for her wounds, Jean remained there with his wings pulled back in. He was shuddering all over as his ancient memories took hold, flooding his mind with the trauma of losing his friends and the group's queen all over again. For a few seconds it looked as if he was another helpless target.

"Akeno!" Issei shouted in horror then looked over. "Sensei?" he asked, surprised to see him there and then was blown back when teh bomb queen detonated Kiba next; as he was the next biggest threat.

"Who's this?" Ravel asked, looking over at Jean as he remained kneeling and shaking all over.

"Shall I take him out too?" Yubelluna, the Bomb Queen asked.

"If he's part of the Gremory group he'll just recover and become a problem." Ravel said dismissively as she turned to walk away.

Just as Yubelluna powered up her magic to blast him, the entire extra dimensional space began to rumble, just a bit at first but it quickly grew into an earthshaking crescendo that hurled anyone standing on the ground to it. Two massive black wings tore their way out of Jean's back and a shadowy mass began to form and launched itself at the floating Queen. Before she could even move, the shadows coalesced into a huge dragon's maw that snapped down on her. She was unharmed but the piercing cold of the void rushed through her, filling the woman's head with the shrieking of lost souls; paralyzing her senses and thoughts.

"What the hell?!" Ravel shouted as she was still floating nearby.

Then the air began to fill with an odd low pitched thrum as the rumbling stopped, overhead the green aurora-filled sky froze and changed into the color of fresh flowing blood. The sound growing louder as Jean pushed himself to his feet, and wrapped his black demon wings around himself. As he did; the area began to fill with sharp objects shooting up out of the ground- making Issei and Ravel scramble to avoid them.

Over on the roof of the building, Riser was unconcerned with what was going on, only with trying to talk Rias down. Rias and Asia didn't notice it either just yet, their full concentration on Riser's attacks so they could defend.

"Issei. Go to Rias." Jean told him through the communicator. "Now. She needs you." he said; his tone of a man without emotion. He'd suppressed that emotional part of himself in response to his mind's state: broken by the PTSD flashbacks he was having. At this point, his REAL self was in control to prevent him from becoming the next target.

"Y-yeah!" Issei jumped up and sprinted toward the school building.

He didn't even have to gesture, Jean just stood there as spikes shot up out of the ground. Upon them were hundreds of bodies, impaled in various ways- some long dead; some dying. The numbers of them increased as he slowly began to make his way toward the school building after Issei.

The effect on Ravel and Yubelluna was immediate. Paralyzing terror shot through their spirits as the wail of lost souls accompanied the forest of corpses that appeared. They both had to flee the immediate area to regroup with Riser on the rooftop; once they got out of the immediate area around Jean; the effect would vanish for them at least.

Issei would go on to try and fight Riser but would only tap himself out and end up helplessly getting his ass kicked. When Riser was about to go down and kill Issei, a mass of shadows impacted the rooftop, swallowing it whole in impenetrable blackness. When it cleared, Issei was gone and in between Riser and Rias stood a new figure. It was Jean whom turned to Rias and nodded. "He's safe. I've removed him from the field to get treatment like the others. Do not worry Lady Rias." he said and turned to Riser, pulling his shades off as he disappeared into a well of darkness for a moment.

When it receded, He was gone replaced with a younger version of himself with spiked black hair that was unbound; his shirt had shredded leaving him showing off his lean musculature but his arms and legs were covered in deep purplish blue, almost black dragon scales as matching wings sprouted from his back and unfurled, forming a barrier that blocked sight behind him. His eyes were glowing a powerful icy blue color made the more ominous by the way they stood out against the black sclera. "They are of no threat." He said speaking to Rias but his tone was aimed at Riser and his queen.

"Who the hell is this?!" Riser demanded.

"I am he." Jean said in an ominous, echoing voice as he held up a hand and formed a spear of inky darkness that pulsed and thrummed in his hand. " That claims all." He said, with a flick of the wrist; the spear shot past Riser's ear and thundered into the chest of his queen, hurling her back and impaling itself into the ground. The effect preventing her from being teleported away for treatment.

"And forgives none." He continued with another gesture. This one calling up more stakes until the entire area below them was saturated with impaled corpses, all singing the tune of lost, damned souls. The groans, shrieks and dying gurgles joined by the pleading of Riser's lost pieces; seemingly having been torn from the treatment area and impaled as well.

"!" Riser jolted and looked around, tryin to keep his cool but seeing his 'harem' amongst the dead and dying; pleading out for his help or blaming him for causing their deaths.

Jean? began to approach Riser slowly. "Thou hast been weighted." He said with a tone as cold as ice. "Thou hast been measured." Closer now. "And thou hast been found wanting." Before Riser could react, the first lashed out, grabbing him by the throat and hauling him off the ground, tendrils of darkness stabbing seemingly stabbing into Riser's body seeking out the source of his immortality.

"I am that which thy feareth the most." He said, squeezing with an iron grip, making Riser grab his arms and try to wrench himself free. "I am that which you thinketh a phoenix ist immune." He reared a hand back and punched Riser in the chest, and exploded out the back holding something in his hand. "Doest thou wish to forfeit this game before thy life is bereft from thy body?" the figure asked.

Riser shrieked in agony, feeling all the pain put upon him but not feeling his healing factor and immortality working to save him like they'd been snuffed out. In his mind; he was going to die if he didn't. So with as loud as voice as he couldu manage, which would seem to him like a mere gasp. "I do! I forfeit!" he cried out.

"And now thy life ist mine to take." the figure smiled and clenched its fist around Riser's heart and with one sweeping gesture cast him aside.

As Jean turned back to Rias and Asia; adjusting his shades he put a hand to his forehead and sighed. "and there you have it Lady Rias. Lord Riser has forfeit." He said. While behind him: Ravel and Yubelluna were trying to help a pale and shaking Riser to his feet; the man looked like he'd just stared death itself in the face. They wouldn't get far before he simply passed out and was removed from the field and the announcement of Rias victory went out.

Once Rias, Asia and Jean were taken to see their friends; Rias recounted what she saw that lead up to Riser's surrender. She couldn't believe it, when Jean appeared before them and approached Riser; Phenex began to freak out and clutch at things that weren't there. He was obvously panicking and heard or saw something that frightened him enough to forfeit the game. Nearby Jean simply sat there keeping an eye on them wearing a business casual suit with his shades on.

Akeno just stared at him for a moment, thinking about it then got this look of shock, then understanding; then a few seconds of naked lust. When prompted by Rias asking her if she knew what was going on; Akeno turned to her. "I think he forced Riser to see something that was terrifying enough to actually make him concede." She said.

Kiba sat up on his treatment bed, rubbing his side. "Just like that time he made me stop in the clubhouse...that sensation of terror."

"Projected in a very tight way; it's easy to overwhelm someone's mind as long as you stay focused on them." Akeno said in a sort of awed way.

Then Rias turned to Jean again as he was now reading a magazine. "Just who are you?" she asked him.

"Me? I'm just a teacher and the club advisor." Jean replied with a small smile.


End file.
